PracticeLink Magazine

SPRING 2013

The career development quarterly for physicians of all specialties, PracticeLink Magazine provides readers with feature articles, compensation stats, helpful job search tips—as well as recruitment ads from organizations across the U.S.

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Tech Notes
The latest in gadgets and apps for physicians
BY DAVID GEER
Improvements in imaging machines
New ultrasound technologies make for happier physicians and patients.
I
n medicine, as in every market, an increasingly
large, positive market impact generally translates
into growing market value.
So with a forecasted global ultrasound systems
market value of almost $11.2 billion by 2022, according
to one report by Visiongain Ltd., it is no wonder that
PracticeLink Magazine is reporting about physicians'
applications and opinions of two signifcant contributions among new ultrasound products.
Practical, pocket-sized Vscan ultrasound device
Price: $7,900
For more information: vscanultrasound.gehealthcare.com
T
he Vscan from GE Healthcare is a mobile ultrasound
visualization tool that fts neatly inside a physician's lab
coat pocket for anytime, anywhere ultrasound scanning
for use in primary and emergency care, women's health
and cardiology.
Jason Jurva, M.D., a non-invasive cardiologist at the
Milwaukee VA Medical Center, was looking for immediate
access and views into patient heart function and structure
when he found this new visualization tool.
"Of all the portable ultrasound devices, none of them are
really pocket sized and travel with you all day from clinic to
clinic except for the Vscan," he says. It is the frst portable
ultrasound—about the size of an older generation cell
phone—that offers instantaneous information, making a
vast majority of diagnoses possible at a moment's notice, Jurva explains. "At not much over a pound, it's pretty innocuous and not too heavy to carry around all day," he says.
And Jurva does carry the Vscan around in his daily
practice, using it when
rounding in the cardiolThe Vscan
ogy outpatient clinic at
ultrasound
the Milwaukee VA Meditool ﬁts in
cal Center, for example.
a lab coat
When Jurva is consultpocket.
ing with a patient and
evaluating them for the
frst time, he can perform
a quick scan of the heart,
learn about the function and condition of the
heart muscle, and share
that information with the
patient on the spot. "I can
tell right away whether a
patient has severe valvular disease and show it to
them," Jurva explains.
"And when seeing victims of active chest pains, I can look at the heart muscle
to risk stratify them for their next treatment or early
aggressive treatment." The Vscan has utility across Jurva's
practice, running the gamut from healthy walk-in patients
to critically ill people, wherever he needs to know what is
going on with the patient at that precise moment.
These timesavings are especially important with critically ill patients.
"I can answer questions in one appointment in an outpatient setting, offering patients peace of mind without
requiring them to make a second trip to the hospital to
get their results," he says.
Continued
SPRING 2013
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